BurmaNet News, April 15, 2004

[Editor]

April 15, 2004 Issue # 2457

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar opposition meets with its recently released leaders
Shan: Rangoon accused, again, of divide and rule
Irrawaddy: KNU Joins Water Festival in Rangoon

REGIONAL
New Straits Times: Remand extended for four Myanmar nationals
New Straits Times: 28 foreigners arrested outside UNHCR office
Malay Mail: 20 Myanmar nationals detained in police raid
Nation: Zaw Bi applies for asylum

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: EU, Asian foreign ministers stuck in Myanmar mire
AFP: Former Czech president, Nobel laureates demand Suu Kyi's release

OPINION/ OTHER
Irrawaddy: Monumental Warfare

ANNOUNCEMENT
US Campaign for Burma News Update: WALK FOR FREEDOM


INSIDE BURMA
_____________________________________

April 15, Agence France Presse
Myanmar opposition meets with its recently released leaders

Senior members of Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD)
met with two of their recently freed leaders and demanded democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi also be released, a party official said Thursday.

Five members of the NLD's central executive committee met party chairman
Aung Shwe and secretary U Lwin at their Yangon homes Wednesday, a day
after they were released from nearly a year of detention.

The NLD's Than Tun told AFP he and other committee members stopped by the
leaders' homes to ask after their health and brief them on recent
political developments.

"We explained to Aung Shwe as well as U Lwin the activities we had been
involved in, including the repeated calls to the military authorities for
their release as well as that of Aung San Suu Kyi and (vice chairman) Tin
Oo," Than Tun told AFP.

He stressed that the party would not decide whether to participate in a
national convention set for next month to draft a constitution until all
its nine members, including Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, could meet face
to face.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the NLD's general secretary, and party vice
chairman Tin Oo are under house arrest after being taken into detention
during political unrest last May 30 which triggered a crackdown on the
party.

Aung Shwe and U Lwin, both in their 80s, were considered likely to be
freed first because of their participation in the original convention,
which collapsed in 1995 after the NLD withdrew.

The two have been issued official invitations to attend the May forum.

Analysts said the convention would be completely discredited if it were
held while Aung San Suu Kyi remained confined.

Hopes have swelled that she and Tin Oo will be released before the May 17
convention, and perhaps as early as Myanmar's traditional New Year's Day
Saturday, but the junta has kept silent on the issue.

All seven committee members were to meet Saturday for the first time since
last May's clash to commemorate the New Year and decide on "how to proceed
while waiting for Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo to be freed," Than Tun said.

_____________________________________

April 15, Shan
Rangoon accused, again, of divide and rule

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel and 14 Nobel literature laureates
issued a joint appeal to Myanmar's military junta for the immediate
release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and writers jailed in the
country, according to a text released here Thursday.

Voicing their "deep concern", they denounced in the text an "open,
unlimited and constantly growing suppression" of what they called a
non-violent movement that was internationally recognised for democracy in
Myanmar.

They also expressed concern at "the lack of freedom of expression for our
writer colleagues and in some cases also their physical freedom", it said.

"We are very worried at the situation of those who are pursued for having
exercised their fundamental right to freedom of expression", it said.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate in 1991 and leader of the National League
for Democracy, has been under house arrest for just under a year.

The written appeal published in Prague also calls for the release of
journalist U Win Tin sentenced to 20 years hard labour, and the poet and
journalist U Aung Myint, who faces 21 years in prison.

Havel is a former anti-communist dissident and former Czech president,
having served the maximum two terms which ended last year.

The 14 Nobel literature laureates include South African J.M. Coetzee and
Guenter Grass of Germany.

The appeal has been sent to Myanmar's ambassadors in Bangkok, Berlin,
London, New Delhi, Tokyo and Washington. It was published to mark the
start late Wednesday of the sixth human rights film festival which is
sponsored by Havel.

_________________________________

April 15, Irrawaddy
KNU Joins Water Festival in Rangoon

A four-member Karen National Union, or KNU, rebel delegation arrived in
Rangoon on Thursday to celebrate the water festival “Thingyan”, in a bid
to boost relations with the Burmese government, said a Karen officer.

Col Nerdah Mya, Commander of the Karen National Liberation Army’s 201st
Battalion, said the delegation left yesterday for visit of about five days
during while it will meet with Burmese military officers and Karen leaders
in Rangoon. “The trip is to become more friendly,” he said.

A four-member Karen National Union, or KNU, rebel delegation arrived in
Rangoon on Thursday to celebrate the water festival “Thingyan”, in a bid
to boost relations with the Burmese government

The Karen delegation is led by Mahn Steela, a KNU Central Committee
member, and includes Lt-Col Jonny, Lt-Col Phaw Doh and Captain David
Francis. It is scheduled to meet with Maj-Gen Kyaw Win, Brig-Gen Kyaw
Thein and Lt-Col Thein Han from the Office of the Chief of Military
Intelligence.

Nerdah Mya said the delegation might meet with Prime Minister Gen Khin
Nyunt. Yesterday, Gen Khin Nyunt welcomed diplomats and government
officials to the Ministry of Defense’s Tatmadaw Guest House No 1 as part
of the water festival celebrations.

The KNU’s most recent peace talks with Rangoon finished on February 25 in
Moulmein. While in progress soldiers from the KNU’s Third Brigade attacked
a Burma Army outpost in Donzayit village, Pegu division, about 89 miles
northeast of the capital Rangoon, and captured several weapons. The rebel
group returned all the weapons at the end of March.

The next round of peace talk is scheduled for the end of April. The KNU
has sent delegations for meetings with the government three times since
December. However, no formal ceasefire has been agreed yet.


REGIONAL
_____________________________________

April 15, New Straits Times
Remand extended for four Myanmar nationals

Kuala Lumpur: The magistrate's court today extended by a day a remand
order against four Myanmar nationals to assist police investigations in
connection with a fire at the Myanmar embassy here on April 8.

Magistrate Rosmizan Mohamad ordered the four men to be detained until
tomorrow.

In the fire at the embassy, off Jalan Ampang Hilir, disgruntled Myanmar
nationals were said to have gone on a rampage, leaving two diplomats
injured and a building gutted by fire.

The embassy's counsellor, Khin Maung Lynn, was slashed on the left hand
and face, and the mission's second secretary-cum-security officer Zaw Tun
Oo suffered cuts from glass splinters.

Police arrested four men in connection with the attack.

Meanwhile, the Sessions Court today acquitted a South Korean and an
Indonesian of charges of using false banking documents, including a
"Standby Letter of Credit" for US$200 million (RM760 million).

Judge Rosenani Abdul Rahman said the prosecution had failed to prove their
case against Han Young Chul, 48, and Yayan Sopiyan Dahman, 39.

Han, a contractor, and Yayan, a travel agent, who were charged on Oct 13,
2001, pleaded not guilty to using as genuine the letter of credit.

_____________________________________

April 15, New Straits Times
28 foreigners arrested outside UNHCR office

Police picked up 28 foreigners outside the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees office in Jalan Bellamy early today.

The foreigners who claimed to be Myanmar nationals failed to produce
travel documents or provide a valid explanation for their presence in the
vicinity at 3am. They were sent to a detention centre in Malacca.

District police chief Assistant Commissioner Zul Hasnan Najib Baharuddin
confirmed the arrests.

_____________________________________

April 15, Malay Mail
20 Myanmar nationals detained in police raid

Kuala Lumpur: More than 20 Myanmar nationals were detained in Ops Nyah 2
conducted by Brickfields police here on Tuesday at 3am.

This was confirmed by Brickfields police chief Assistant Commissioner
Zulhasnan Najib Baharuddin yesterday.

The foreigners were detained for not having valid documents.

They are being held at the Machap Umboo detention camp in Malacca before
deportation.
_____________________________________

April 15, Nation
Zaw Bi applies for asylum

Zaw Bi, the Karen man cleared of shooting children on their way to school,
has applied for asylum but the request is pending government verification
of his nationality, a United Nations source said yesterday.

The official with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who asked not to
be named, said Zaw Bi had requested to live in a third country.

Zaw Bi was remanded in prison for more than a year during his trial, which
ended in his acquittal on March 31, and now he is being held at an
immigration centre in Kanchanaburi until he is sent back to Burma.

However, some people have come out to claim he is actually Thai.

The UNHCR official said he had visited Zaw Bi and sent appeals to the
Interior and Foreign Ministries and the National Security Council to delay
his deportation.

“If Zaw Bi is proven to be a Thai citizen, the UNHCR will have no
authority,” the official said.

“If not, we will have to consider whether [we should] grant him the status
of displaced person before considering where to resettle him.”

The Law Society of Thailand is assisting people in Ratchaburi, where Zaw
Bi had been residing, to ask the Interior Ministry to ascertain whether
Zaw Bi was born in Thailand and is a Thai citizen.

Law Society member Preeda Thongchumnoom said her human rights committee on
the stateless and the displaced would visit Ratchaburi to gather
information on Zaw Bi after the Songkran holidays.


INTERNATIONAL
_____________________________________

April 15, Agence France Presse
EU, Asian foreign ministers stuck in Myanmar mire – Jitendra Joshi

Brussels : EU and Asian foreign ministers meet this weekend for annual
talks overshadowed by Europe's undisguised distaste of the military junta
ruling Myanmar.

While both sides are keen to push forward on the trade front of the
regular Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) dialogue, the Myanmar question
threatens yet again to sully the atmosphere.

The two-day talks starting Saturday in Kildare, central Ireland, will
involve ministers from the European Union, seven members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South
Korea.

Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, whose country holds the EU's rotating
presidency, will also hold separate bilateral sessions with his Chinese
and Japanese counterparts on Sunday.

While China is pressing the EU to lift an arms embargo in place since
1989, Cowen and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing are expected to focus on the
two sides' booming trade links.

ASEAN, some of whose members have lost out as China grows in appeal for
Western companies, would like to explore a similar dialogue with the
expanding EU, diplomats say.

"There's a host of issues on which we should be concentrating our efforts
-- not just economic relations but education, cultural ties, political
dialogue on global affairs," one EU diplomat said.

"But if that process is to move forward, then the ball's firmly in the
Myanmar junta's court to make progress on human rights, starting with the
immediate release of (pro-democracy leader) Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.

Members of the junta are on a visa blacklist banning them from entering EU
territory, jeopardizing attempts in the past to hold EU-ASEAN talks in
Europe.

The visa ban was relaxed last year to enable Myanmar's deputy foreign
minister to attend a meeting between the two sides in Brussels, so that
the EU could air its concerns about human rights in the country.

But EU members such as Myanmar's former colonial power Britain are much
more squeamish about sitting down at the table with top junta leaders --
the fate that might await them if they go to an ASEM summit in Hanoi in
October.

Myanmar, along with ASEAN's two other newest members Cambodia and Laos, is
not yet part of the ASEM dialogue.

The rest of ASEAN wants them to come to the Hanoi gathering -- and insists
their attendance is a pre-condition if the EU wants to bring along 10
countries that join the bloc in two weeks.

Analysts in Yangon say that in any case, Myanmar's junta is more
preoccupied now with pushing ahead with plans for a national convention
next month, the first step in a seven-point "road map to democracy"
unveiled last year.

"Myanmar's acceptance into the (ASEM) forum is not a pressing issue for
the military authorities at this time... they appear to view it as an
issue that concerns ASEAN as a whole and it won't let them down," said one
analyst.

"They feel that a solution mutually satisfactory to both groups will
eventually be found," he said. "I think they'll opt for quiet diplomacy to
solve the issue."

European countries have welcomed the release of several of Aung San Suu
Kyi's lieutenants ahead of next month's convention.

But there is also ill-concealed frustration that once again the Myanmar
issue is overshadowing efforts to bolster ties with a region that is
growing all the time in economic importance for Europe.

The EU is also keen to explore joint work against terrorism in light of
the March 11 attacks in Madrid and the October 2002 bombing of a Bali
nightclub.

The ASEM process "cannot be hijacked by the Myanmar issue, but on the
other hand we have our values and we are not ready to give them out", a
Singapore-based European diplomat said.
_____________________________________

April 15, Agence France Presse
Former Czech president, Nobel laureates demand Suu Kyi's release

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel and 14 Nobel literature laureates
issued a joint appeal to Myanmar's military junta for the immediate
release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and writers jailed in the
country, according to a text released here Thursday.

Voicing their "deep concern", they denounced in the text an "open,
unlimited and constantly growing suppression" of what they called a
non-violent movement that was internationally recognised for democracy in
Myanmar.

They also expressed concern at "the lack of freedom of expression for our
writer colleagues and in some cases also their physical freedom", it said.

"We are very worried at the situation of those who are pursued for having
exercised their fundamental right to freedom of expression", it said.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate in 1991 and leader of the National League
for Democracy, has been under house arrest for just under a year.

The written appeal published in Prague also calls for the release of
journalist U Win Tin sentenced to 20 years hard labour, and the poet and
journalist U Aung Myint, who faces 21 years in prison.

Havel is a former anti-communist dissident and former Czech president,
having served the maximum two terms which ended last year.

The 14 Nobel literature laureates include South African J.M. Coetzee and
Guenter Grass of Germany.

The appeal has been sent to Myanmar's ambassadors in Bangkok, Berlin,
London, New Delhi, Tokyo and Washington. It was published to mark the
start late Wednesday of the sixth human rights film festival which is
sponsored by Havel.


OPINION/ OTHER
___________________________________

Issue Cover dated March 2004, Irrawaddy - Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat
Monumental Warfare

In the absence of war, ancient Thai-Burmese conflicts are relived and
revived through statue-building.

The King Bayinnaung statue glowers down malevolently on the Thai border
town of Mai Sai from higher ground in Tachilek, Burma just across from the
river that marks the frontier. His bronze likeness also stands atop a hill
at Burma’s southernmost Victoria Point, surveying Thailand’s Ranong
Province across the estuary. The long-dead monarch is revered in Burma as
a great warrior-king who conquered Siam.

Thais, however, remember Bayinnaung as a brutal foreign invader who, on
capturing Ayudhaya in 1569, looted the Siamese capital of its treasure,
white elephants and many thousands of slaves.

The provocative Burmese monument to the conquest of Siam is not a relic
from a period of heightened tensions between the two countries. It was
unveiled in 1996 as cooperation and business links between Bangkok and
Rangoon were stronger than at any period since before World War II.

Thai businessmen were throwing money at tourism and fishing ventures. The
state-owned Petroleum Authority of Thailand had signed two deals for
Burmese natural gas. There was significant Thai involvement in
strong-arming recalcitrant rebel groups into ceasefires with Rangoon. Thai
parastatal banks financed several Burmese infrastructure projects and
Bangkok was a vocal supporter of Burma’s entry into the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.

The statue in Tachelik presented a symbolism entirely at odds with the
official spirit of fraternal cooperation between Bangkok and Rangoon, but
perhaps served as an appropriate Burmese metaphor for the two countries’
tense, mutually distrustful relationship. Thailand had no equivalent
provocative monument—statues of Siamese warrior-kings have all been built
miles from its borders. In cold war terms it might be said that there
existed a "statue gap."

In the wake of a border skirmish in Chiang Rai province in February 2001
(that culminated in Burmese and Thai artillery units shelling each other
from positions in Tachelik and Mae Sai), Burma’s state-run New Light of
Myanmar newspaper ran a series of "historical" articles by authors such as
Tekkatho Myat Thu and Kappiya Kankaung that in glowing terms detailed King
Bayinnaung’s conquest of Ayudhaya in 1569 and his magnanimous acts
following victory while scorning Ayudhaya’s rulers for reneging on
promises.

"He was the king who had physical and moral courage and safeguarded
justice," wrote Kappiya Kankaung of Bayinnaung. "Myanma hero King
Bayintnaung [sic] behaved like the sun and fire in defeating [and]
crushing Siam (Ayudhaya), which broke its promises and rose in rebellion."

The February 2001 border incident provided the Third Army commander at the
time, Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, with an opportunity to correct the
statue gap and so achieve monument-parity. He initiated a project to erect
a statue of King Naresuan and a "victory pagoda" at Ban Payangpataek, Mae
Sai district.

"We want to pay gratitude to King Naresuan who brought us victory in the
fight against the Burmese troops," said Lt-Gen Wattanachai in reference to
his plan to build a statue of the revered Thai king.

"Without King Naresuan the Great, Thais would have no land in which to
live," he said. The monarch is celebrated for freeing Ayudhaya from
Burmese control in 1584 then winning a series of battles that cemented
Siam’s independence and expanded its territory. History is not quite so
simple.

In pre nation-state times there was a shortage of manpower, not land. Wars
were fought for control of slaves and white elephants (which signified
universal monarch status). There were no centralized governments, only a
collection of larger and smaller kingdoms, each centered on a major city.
Neither rulers nor their subjects had much sense of common national
identity. Smaller mini-states entered into alliances with larger
mini-states and paid tribute—but alliances changed fluidly depending on
the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the bigger states.

The kingdom of Lanna, which was centered in what is now Chiang Mai,
frequently switched between being allied with various Burmese dynasties
and with Ayudhaya. For subjects of Lanna, inhabitants from the Thai
central plains, who spoke an almost unintelligible dialect and used a
different writing system, were almost as foreign as the Burmese.

When Bayinnaung conquered Siam, his chief ally was Thammaraja, the ruler
of Phitsanulok, who was installed as vassal chief of Ayudhaya. On
Thammaraja’s death, his son, Pra Naret, known as the black prince, was
crowned King Naresuan. The son of a man instrumental in Bayinnaung
capturing and sacking Ayudhaya turned against the Pego court three years
after Bayinnaung’s death. Naresuan later took one of Bayinnaung’s
granddaughters as a wife.

Naresuan’s rebellion probably had more to do with palace intrigues than
nationalist fervor. But then strict factual accuracy is not a requirement
for the nation-building role played by popular history.

History & Nation-building

U Po Kya, a well-known author of history textbooks during and after
British rule, claimed that Bayinnaung had risen from among the "common
people"—that he had been born to a peasant family in the Pagan area.
However, surviving sixteenth century chronicles record Bayinnaung as being
the brother-in-law of his immediate dynasty predecessor, King
Tabinshewthi—it is extremely unlikely that he was a commoner.

U Thaw Kaung, prominent Burmese historian, suggested that U Po Kya’s
fanciful rewrite of history served as a rallying call to Burmese students
of the pre-World War II period in the struggle for independence from
Britain. Anyone, regardless of family background, could achieve eminence
and become a great leader if they were brave, energetic, willing to take
risks and strive earnestly for the good of the country. As most of the
student activists claimed to be socialists, an egalitarian king from the
people set a convenient (if fictional) historical precedent.

King Bayinnaung’s reign (1550-1581) was marked by an almost perpetual
state of war on all fronts that exhausted his subjects. Many of his
conquests were reversed within a few years of his death. But he is
portrayed in Burmese historical literature as a just and religious man who
practiced tolerance and forbearance.

What is perhaps more interesting is the portrayal of Bayinnaung in Thai
historical literature, which changed as Thailand developed, into a modern
nation-state, according to Sunait Chutintaranond, a Thai scholar of
Burmese history at Chulalongkorn University.

Sunait claimed in his 1995 study Bayinnaung Kyawhtin Nawrahta: The Burmese
King in Thai Perceptions that Bayinnaung’s conquest of Ayudhaya was
perceived in pre-modern times as a legitimate act in accordance with the
mores of the day. The expansion of the realm signified the power and
charisma of the monarch.

As Siam transformed into a modern state with defined borders (a process
accelerated by the European colonization of its neighbors) and a
centralized government, the depiction of Burmese kings of antiquity
gradually darkened. Bayinnaung and other Burmese kings that had sacked or
occupied Ayudhaya came to play a part in the development of a common
national Thai identity by symbolizing "barbaric" foreignness—invaders that
"plundered" the sovereignty of Thailand but were eventually pushed back by
patriotic Thais, led by brave, compassionate kings.

While Thailand might suffer from a statue gap, patriots can take solace at
the fact that their country is a long way ahead in the "historical movie
race"—the adaptation of popular history by the entertainment industry. The
most successful recent example was Suriyothai, which dealt with a mythical
queen (The earliest mention of Suriyothai in Thai chronicles came more
than 200 years after her death and Burmese chronicles dealing with the
1549 battle do not mention her at all) who died in battle against Burma,
was the most watched Thai movie on record.

Statues and Thai-Burmese Relations

The respective nation-building missions played by nationalist popular
history in Thailand and Burma have provided great themes for movie-makers
and much-appreciated work for sculptors and bronze foundry proprietors.
But it has also bequeathed a legacy that has soured bilateral relations.

Gen Wattanachai initially proposed that the Naresuan statue be on
horseback with his sword pointed towards the border, as if about to lead a
battle charge. The foreign ministry, terrified of the implications that
such a pose would have on its fence-mending efforts with Rangoon, but
mindful of the weight of Thai popular opinion, suggested a new design with
the king still on horseback, but his sword securely sheathed in its
scabbard.

After a two-year delay, the Fine Arts Department finally approved a design
in June 2003. At an estimated cost of 60 million baht, the statue of
Naresuan, more than twice life-size, was to be constructed together with
the pagoda. However, the project has been stalled, apparently due to a
funding shortage.

Bayinnaung has had his share of travails. In May last year, four bombs
exploded in Tachilek, one of which damaged the King Bayinnaung statue.
Ominously, the incident happened one day after Thai Foreign Minister
Surakiart Sathirathai and his Burmese counterpart Win Aung presided over a
groundbreaking ceremony for a new "Friendship Bridge" that will link Mae
Sai and Tachilek.

The bombers were never caught. But the King Bayinnaung statue was patched
up and again glowers down on Thailand from the high ground in Tachilek.

Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat is a journalist at the English-language
Nation newspaper's regional desk in Bangkok.
___________________________________

ANNOUNCEMENT

April 15, US Campaign for Burma News Update
WALK FOR FREEDOM

Do you care about freedom and democracy in Burma?  Then lace up your
walking shoes for the “Walk For Freedom” this Saturday, April 17th,
Burmese New Year Day.

We want to invite you to sign up to participate in one of the Burma
Freedom Walks, 8 kilometer walkathons to raise awareness of the world's
only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the
struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.  The walks, to be held in
Washington, DC and New York City, will take place this Saturday, April
17th, 2004, Burmese New Year Day.

It is critically important that we raise our voices for Burma NOW.  As the
world focuses elsewhere, Burma's military regime continues to commit
horrific human rights abuses against the people of Burma.  Some members
and supporters of USCB just returned from a fact-finding mission to the
Thailand-Burma border where they spoke firsthand with victims of the
regime--former child soldiers, slave laborers, and rape survivors.  Their
message to the world was: please support our struggle.

Now you can do that by spending part of this Saturday walking for freedom
with other supporters of a free Burma!
Washington, DC schedule

Event Date
Saturday April 17th, 2004
Steps of Jefferson Memorial

Event Schedule
7:30 am Check-in Begins (all walkers/teams must check in)
9:00 am Pre-Walk Rally and Warm-up session with Gym professionals 9:30 am
Walk begins 12:30 pm Awards Ceremony

Event Location
The rally and walk will begin and end on the steps of the Thomas Jefferson
Memorial near the National mall in Washington, DC.

How To register, print out pledge sheets, and get specific directions to
the event, click here:
http://mailhost.groundspring.org/cgi-bin/t.pl?id=80184:1105656

New York schedule

Event Date
Saturday April 17th, 2004
Central Park, New York, New York

Event Schedule
1:00 pm, meet at entrance
1:30 pm, begin walk

Event Location
The rally and walk will begin and end at the 72nd Street/5th Ave entrance
to Central Park on the east side.

How To register, print out pledge sheets, and get specific directions to
the event, click here:
http://mailhost.groundspring.org/cgi-bin/t.pl?id=80185:1105656

On April 17th, 2004, Burmese New Year day, use your feet to help the
nonviolent struggle of the world's only incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize
recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the people of Burma.

Why Walk for Burma?
The Southeast Asian country of Burma is ruled by one of the world's most
brutal military regimes. Aung San Suu Kyi, the legitimate leader of the
country, has been locked up for most of the past 15 years. Over 1,600
political prisoners languish behind bars, while the regime commits
unimaginable human rights abuses to maintain its grip on power. Women are
systematically raped, innocent civilians are forced into modern-day
slavery, and ethnic nationalities are subject to ethnic cleansing.

Many prominent leaders are speaking out on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi and
the people of Burma. "She's my hero," says Bono, lead singer of the music
band U2. South Africa's Bishop Desmond Tutu says, "In size she is petite,
but in moral stature, she is a giant." The walk is produced by and
benefiting the US Campaign for Burma (USCB), a grassroots coalition of
individuals and organizations working to promote freedom, democracy, and
human rights in Burma. USCB works to ensure that the United States
government maintains a responsible foreign policy toward Burma, sponsors
delegations of Americans to Southeast Asia to learn more about Burma, and
spearheads campaigns to block corporations from propping up the ruling
regime. To learn more about USCB, please visit to
www.uscampaignforburma.org .

Why an 8-Kilometer Walk?
The number 8 is important to the Burmese people because on the eighth day
of eighth month of the year 1988 (August 8th, 1988), the peoples of Burma
launched a major nonviolent uprising that nearly brought about an end to
the ruling military regime. In US terms, the walk is just over 5 miles.

Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle
for freedom and democracy in Burma.  Join the United States Campaign for
Burma today:
http://mailhost.groundspring.org/cgi-bin/t.pl?id=80186:1105656

View a new online photo journey through Burma's history and the rest of
our beginners guide to Burma: www.uscampaignforburma.org

US Campaign for Burma, 1612 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
(202) 223-0300 (Tel), (202) 466-5189 (Fax)